


In the Land of Midsummer

by spirithorse



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials Fusion, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 18:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7768333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spirithorse/pseuds/spirithorse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of fics written for Sormik Week 2016.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Breathing Deep

**Author's Note:**

> The title for this fic was taken from Anemone no Hana by fhána.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Dinotopia AU written for the prompt "Water."

Sorey crouched by the tide pool, rubbing his thumb along the carved sections of the rock. What looked like sand a mud clogged some of the carvings, making it hard to read just by moving his hands over them. Sorey dipped the rock into the tide pool, careful to avoid the creatures inside of it. He rubbed his fingers over the carvings, trying to work the worst of the sand out. 

He worked slowly, not wanting to risk any chips of paint that remained in the carving. He and Mikleo had found a few painted pieces from the other times they had walked the beach and the caves around the cove, although it was rare for any of the artifacts that they found on the beach to retain any of their paint, the weather usually wore it away.

He lifted the carving from the water, tipping it from one side to the other to get the excess water off of it. Nearly all of the sand was gone now, but there didn’t look like there was any paint. Sorey sighed and rocked back on his heels, nearly dropping the piece when a narrow, beaked head dropped into his line of vision.

“Mikleo!”

The Struthiomimus cocked his head from side to side, the motion fast and elegant, like a bird. Then Mikleo pulled his head up, the keen interest momentarily gone from his gaze. “So that’s what you were doing.”

Sorey laughed and sat down in the sand, holding the rock up so Mikleo could see it. Whatever Sorey had done to annoy Mikleo wasn’t enough to completely quell his curiosity. Sorey pointedly looked back down the beach as Mikleo shifted closer to look at the piece of carving. The dinosaur didn’t reach out to pick it up, Sorey not minding having to hold it up for him. It was easier for Mikleo than having to twist and turn his head to really study the piece, and it gave Sorey the excuse to look back down the beach.

Their footprints were still visible on the wet sand, the elongated oval of his own bare feet and the neat, three toed print of Mikleo’s. The two sets of prints continued steadily up the beach, save for a few times that Mikleo’s had veered off towards the water.

Sorey glanced over at Mikleo, noticing where the feathers were dark and waterlogged up his legs and towards his hips. The panniers that were strapped around Mikleo’s waist were still mostly dry, not that it mattered what they were finding got a little wet. They were harvesting what they could from the ocean, mostly shells and seaweed. Sorey had seen Mikleo marking a few of the larger rocks with his claws for when the others came down to haul them up to Elysia.

One of the storms had done a lot of damage to the hatchery and its tower, so efforts had been taken to repair and expand it. Elysia was no longer just a sleepy little village on the shore, people and saurians were starting to settle down in the area now, especially as the routes through the Rainy Basin were made safer.

Sorey sighed and leaned back on his free hand. He would love to make the trip through the Rainy Basin, if only to check on the ruins that were said to be there. Denison had certainly found remains of something, but he had never managed to stay long enough to get more than a drawing or two. Sorey wanted to see what was really inside them.

Until then, the caves around Elysia would have to do, not that he minded. He had been given the task of looking after all the ruins around Elysia so they wouldn’t be lost to time.

A slight jingle drew his attention back to Mikleo, the Struthiomimus shaking his head. The sunlight flashed off the necklace near the join of Mikleo’s head and neck, Sorey tempted to reach up and ease the beads and the aquamarine back into place. He dug his fingers into the sand instead, waiting for Mikleo to finish.

The saurian finally tore his gaze away from the rock. Mikleo settled down onto the sand, folding his legs under him and tucking his forearms under his breast. Even lying down, his neck was long enough that he could see the rock and rest his head against Sorey’s shoulder.  With how close that Mikleo was lying down to Sorey, a turn of his head would probably knock their heads together, but Mikleo’s focus was completely on the rock and its inscription.

“Looks like another marker stone.”

Sorey nodded, lowering the rock slightly so they could both see the inscription. Mikelo made a tiny sound of thanks, pulling one forearm out from under himself to start to scratch out the letters in translation as he read over it. Sorey leaned a little closer to see the letters that Mikleo left on the sand.

Mikleo huffed when he came to the end of the marks on the stone, shaking his head. “Did you find more of it?”

“No.” Sorey set the piece of rock down in his lap. “It must have broken off from something in the storms. We’ll have to comb the shore to see if there’s anything else and check the caves.”

It was obvious that Mikleo was tempted to rush off by the way that he shifted in the sand. 

They had been stuck inside with all the storms rolling over the coast, that or running around to help the other humans and saurians into shelter when an older building had crumbled. The high water had only just retreated from the beaches, which was part of the reason that Gramps had sent them out to look over the beach. The two of them hadn’t gotten to push too far into the ruins for days, and Mikleo had never been satisfied by being cooped up in one place for a long while. Sorey couldn’t think of a saurian who preferred staying indoors.

He could tell the exact moment when Mikleo remembered what Zenrus had sent them out for. The Struthiomimus looked away from him quickly, his fingers twitching. Then Mikleo stood up, fluffing his feathers to get the worst of the sand off. “We have a job to do.”

“But-”

“The sooner we get it done, the sooner we can go exploring.”

Sorey watched Mikleo carefully, trying to judge if he could make his friend give in. From the way that Mikleo held himself, there would be no convincing him, at least about this.

He sighed and stood up, reaching out to balance himself against Mikleo. The Struthiomimus allowed the touch, standing steady as Sorey tucked the fragment of rock into one of the panniers. “I know.”

Mikleo gave him a sharp nod, the necklace around his neck jingling. This time, Sorey gave into the urge to fix it, Mikleo raising his head slightly to allow Sorey to work. Even then his head was still moving, the small jerks that would allow Mikleo to take in anything coming their way.

Sorey smoothed his hand down Mikleo’s feathers when he was done. The motion earned an appreciative noise, one that turned into words when Mikleo seemed to remember himself. “Gramps said that he’s gotten word of a shipwreck further up the coast. Ladylake has been taking in survivors, but they say that more could wash up down towards us.”

“Or the dolphins could have gotten lost.”

“That too.” Mikleo moved away from him, resuming his steady pace up the beach.

It was habit to fall into step beside him, Sorey keeping one arm draped over Mikleo’s shoulders. Eventually the Struthiomimus would shake it off to go after something that his sharp eyes picked out, but Sorey was more than happy to take advantage of the chance offered to him. Mikleo’s feathers were wonderfully soft and it was better with Mikleo’s familiar warmth pressed against his side.

He trained his gaze on the distant curve of the cove, picking out large heaps of seaweed and debris tossed from the sea with the last bout of storms. “Do you think we’ll find one of the survivors?”

Mikleo made a noise in the back of his throat, his way of answering a question when he didn’t dare commit himself to an answer that could be wrong. Sorey knew him well enough to know that Mikleo doubted it. Any survivor would have had the sense to walk away from the cove and find shelter from the storms. If they had remained on the beach, then it would probably be too late for them.

Sorey sighed and looked back at where he and Mikleo had come from, tracking the steady march of their footprints until they disappeared from his line of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation for the artifact that they found: “-telus who spread his wings over us and granted us safety did lead out into the light-“


	2. Tripped Traps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "Earth"

Ruins were dangerous places. They were old, usually falling apart because of disuse or the locals having raided stone from the walls and often a confusing maze of blocked passages and unstable rooms. Mikleo knew this from the number of ruins that he and Sorey had crept through. He knew how to make his way through them with as little damage to the ruin and to himself. Despite Sorey’s enthusiasm to explore every crevice that he could fit into and some that he couldn’t, they did have a set of rules that they could at least loosely adhere to.

The problem was that Rose didn’t know them.

The other problem was that she had run off further into the ruins sometime between their contemplation of pre-Asgardian iconography and a pillar that was obviously from another era before either he or Sorey had been able to tell her the most important of their rules.

Don’t touch anything that looked like a button or lever until the area was carefully checked over.

Mikleo knew what had happened as soon as he heard the groan and thud of old weights moving into new places. He turned away from where Sorey was kneeling on the floor to look at what looked like the top of a reused frieze to stare at where Rose was standing on the other side of the tiny room. “What did you-”

He didn’t get the time to finish nor did Rose get the chance to answer before the lintel of the door shifted, the whole stone slamming down and locking into place. Mikleo heard Rose squeak in surprise and, much louder, the long sigh from Sorey.

He turned to look at Sorey, not surprised by the look on his friend’s face. They had gotten into the same situation too many times to be really annoyed by what happened. It would just be a matter of finding the mechanism from this side or, if there was none, bursting their way through. Mikleo was sure that Edna would bow to the pressure, if she was amused enough by their panic.

Mikleo frowned and started to make his way around the room, keeping his head turned so he could watch as Sorey made his way across the room to crouch by the small hole to the left of the door. Sorey poked through the cobwebs, smiling at whoever was crouched across from him. “Will it budge?”

He could hear Rose grunting and straining at the lever outside the room, Mikleo listening for the sound of the weights moving. But it never came. He looked back at Sorey and shook his head. “We need a different mechanism to get out.”

Sorey nodded, pressing his face back against the small opening. “Rose, what else do you see you there?”

“Walls. Ceiling.”

“Old stuff.”

Sorey laughed at Edna’s comment, Mikleo just rolling his eyes. Edna would be no help, but that was to be expected. Her suggestion would be to break an entire wall down, which wouldn’t be helpful. It would probably destroy the structure of the whole section that they were in considering the thickness of the wall.

He ran his hands over a carving on the far wall, the style the same as the frieze that Sorey had been looking at earlier. Mikleo hummed to himself, resting his hand over a strange birdlike, v-shape that was part of the complex pattern. He tipped his head to the side, staring down the frieze as he tried to figure out why the building would have these pieces in particular. Raiding stone from earlier buildings wasn’t uncommon, but it was strange to have such a decorate piece stuck off in a side room, especially one that didn’t look like it had been planned. After all, the thickness of the walls seemed to indicate that they had been exterior ones, so no one would have been going into the small room.

Mikleo leaned closer to look at the strange designs that made up the frieze, frowning when he saw a part of the design that was slightly more raised than the others. He leaned closer to the thing that looked something like a horse, poking at the raised edge. “Sorey.”

He kept looking over the designs as Sorey came over. He shifted to the side to allow Sorey to look at the part that was raised. Mikleo looked at the other horseback riders in the scene, smiling at the wings that some of them had. “What do you think?”

“It’s the same as the other one. But it looks intact. They both do.”

“Like the whole thing was built around them?”

“Yes.” Sorey smoothed a hand over the join where the frieze joined with the other stones. He leaned close watching as Sorey traced a line in the stone. “Everything on this side is a different stone and the mortar looks different.”

“So the rest of this building was built around an original.” Mikleo frowned as he thought through the problem. “But then why was this room purposefully sealed off and did it retain its original purpose?”

“I don’t know. But it looks like…” Sorey trailed off as he brushed a clump of mud away from the join of the wall and the floor. The clump came away in a big chunk, revealing another part of the wall and a small hole in the floor. “Mikleo?”

“I don’t know either.” He turned to look at the room, noting the clumps of mud that appeared at regular intervals along the floor. Mikelo had written if off as debris but, now that he looked at it, the mud was far too regular. He bent down to pull another clump of mud away, reveling a similar hole. “Sorey, I think we should-”

“Hey, I found something. Tell me if it does anything.”

Mikleo turned at the shout, his eyes widening when he heard something else in the room click. He heard Sorey yelp, his friend starting into him.

He reached out to steady Sorey, his hands tightening on Sorey’s shoulders when he saw the raised portion of the frieze slide back down. There were more creaks and groans before the sound of stone grinding on stone.

The clumps of mud twitched and started to move, Sorey yelping and jumping away from him as the first spikes appeared. He dashed back over to the hole in the wall, Mikleo retreating until he hit Sorey’s back. He reached back for his friend, holding onto Sorey’s shoulder as he scanned the room.

Spikes were slowly edging from the floor and the ceiling. Mikleo tried to get the timing up them, but they would jerk erratically. He wasn’t surprised that the movement wasn’t steady. He and Sorey hadn’t managed to pin down the exact age of the ruin, but it was certainly old enough to have parts of the trap not working correctly.

The spikes gave another shudder and jolted down alarmingly fast. Mikleo shook Sorey’s arm, getting a slap to his side in return. Despite that, Sorey spoke was a carefully calm voice, although Mikleo could hear the shudder. “Rose, is there anything else.”

“No, just the lever and that button. And neither of them will move. Why?”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure, but Lailah is working on it. You alright? You sound kind of stressed.”

“Oh no, everything is-”

Sorey grunted when Mikleo dug his fingers into the human’s shoulder. It wasn’t the time for false bravado, not when there was no timing to the spikes. As far as Mikleo knew, the whole thing could slam down on them in the next few moments and that would be it.

“There are spikes.”

“Spikes!”

“Yes, and they’re coming down fast.”

Mikleo heard Rose repeat the words at a shout and Sorey starting to babble out some sort of explanation. He cursed under his breath and threw out a hand, summoning a pillar of ice and bracing it against the floor and ceiling.

The whole contraption groaned for a moment, Mikleo highly aware of the way that Sorey had gone silent. The two of them held their breaths as they waited for the results of his stopgap.

It came quickly, the sound of the ice groaning and cracking.

Mikleo heard Sorey take a quick breath. “Oh. Uh…Edna?”

If the earth seraph said anything, Mikleo didn’t hear it over the cracking of the ice pillar. He jerked his hand away from Sorey’s shoulder, flinging it forward to summon more ice. In his panic, some of the ice slipped over the floor and not on the pillar like he would have wanted, but it was enough.

The pillar held for another few clicks before it started to give again. Mikleo traced the path of the cracks, frantically trying to figure out ways to shore up the pillar without the whole thing coming apart and crashing down on his head.

He shifted his position, ready to throw up another layer of ice when he felt Sorey turn around behind him. He was sure that he heard his friend make a high pitched squeak, but that was practically covered by the awful rumble of moving stone.

Mikleo craned his head back to get a better look at the ceiling, watching as the spikes trembled. He was sure that they were starting to move faster, but he didn’t get too much of a chance to time them. Sorey’s arm was around his waist and he was suddenly being yanked backwards.

He yelped as he fell, getting a glimpse of the small doorway and the buckled stone above it where the stone door had suddenly been shoved back up. Then he was falling back into something soft.

Mikleo heard Sorey grunt, curling slightly so the back of his head wouldn’t smack into Sorey’s face. He felt Sorey’s arm tighten around his waist, not sure if it was meant as reassurance or a warning to be careful. He kept still anyway, glancing around the main room.

It took Sorey a moment more to recover, Mikleo feeling the huge sigh that Sorey gave. “Thanks, Edna.”

“No problem. I would have done it sooner, but I was afraid Meebo would have a heart attack at the destruction of precious ruins.”

Mikleo frowned and tipped his head back, glaring at Edna from his upside down position. He would have preferred to get up, but it didn’t feel like Sorey would be letting him up. That was if Sorey remembered that he was the one holding Mikleo down at all. “I would prefer not to die, thank you very much.”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Edna twirled her umbrella before letting it rest against her shoulder. “I would have had you out ages ago.”

Mikleo groaned, relaxing slightly at Sorey patted his hip. He breathed out slowly and fixed his gaze on Rose, glad that the girl looked sheepish. Considering that it was the second time she had done something like this, she had every right to be.

He took a deep breath, not at all assuaged by the way that Sorey patted his hip again and whispered, “Mikleo…”

He shook his head, struggling up into a sitting position. He wasn’t surprised that Sorey went with him; his friend probably wanted to prevent him from doing anything stupid. Mikleo didn’t even think he could. Now that his shock and anger had melted away, all he felt was shaky. He was sure that, if he tried to stand up, he would fall right over again. And he didn’t want to do that, not with Edna looking smug. Teasing after a near death experience was not something that he wanted to deal with.

Mikleo gave Rose a long look before nodding at her. “Since you’re going to be traveling with us, there’s a few rules you need to know about exploring ruins.”


	3. Halcyon Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "Passion". Takes place post-canon so spoilers for the game.

“I think we were wrong about the dating.”

Sorey paused in his careful exploration of the skin between Mikleo’s shoulder and neck. Nothing had drastically changed about it in the centuries that he had been gone, save for maybe it had gotten a little broader. Mikleo’s hair was longer too and, now that it was no longer held back in a careful ponytail, strands kept falling across Mikleo’s shoulders and back. Its meandering paths kept drawing Sorey’s attention, either to the ridges of planes that he had always known were there and had been softened by memory or to new things, like the carefully laid line of bruises that ran diagonally from Mikleo’s jaw to where his neck joined with his shoulder. He contemplated the last one in the line, tempted to press a gentle kiss against it and get Mikleo to react

But Mikleo had spoken, and not in half-finished demands or various iterations of his name. Sorey lifted his hand from Mikleo’s waist, carefully pushing the seraph’s hair away from his shoulder and the nape of his neck.

The skin revealed momentarily distracted him again, Sorey nuzzling into the back of Mikleo’s neck before he remembered that his friend had spoken. Sorey considered the words for a moment before humming to show that he was listening.

He felt Mikleo shiver at the vibration. He dropped his arm back over Mikleo’s waist, smiling when Mikleo was quick to seek out his hand again. The seraph slipped their fingers together even as he started talking again.

“It’s not Dark Period, but it’s probably something early Asgardian. It’s transitional, which is why it looks so similar.”

“Really?”

“I got a pretty good look at it earlier.”

Sorey laughed, quick to press his face against the back of Mikleo’s neck. He felt more than heard Mikleo’s huff of annoyance, but that didn’t stop his laughter, especially when he was sure about what Mikleo’s good look had been. After all, the floor had seemed to be less likely to be damaged than one of the walls with its complex bas reliefs.

He hadn’t thought that Mikleo would have been able to take the time to notice the age of the floor they were lying on in the heat of the moment. Then again, they had been lying on the floor for a while now.

It was a habit from when they were younger, centuries younger and far more naïve than they were now. Sorey had always been the one to pull Mikleo back against him and drift off into sleep. It had been habit to do it again, just to feel Mikleo so close to him and to try to fill the gap between them. They were no longer Shepherd and Sub Lord, no longer able to get as close as they once had. But they had been Sorey and Mikleo long before Shepherd and Sub Lord, and it wasn’t a trade off in any means. If anything, it was a return to something that had been interrupted.

Sorey pressed a kiss to the back of Mikleo’s neck, feeling the seraph shiver even as he propped himself up on one elbow. He wasn’t quite ready to leave the warmth and comfort of their two bodies pressed together, but he was curious enough to want to take a look.

Mikleo turned his head slightly, staring up at Sorey with a soft smile before he reached out to tap the design he was talking about. “For one, the people in the Dark Period wouldn’t have been able to cut this stone. And there’s the marks left by the tool, they’re narrower than what we usually see with the Dark Period or the Release of Glenwood.”

Sorey tipped his head to the slide, looking at the elaborate bird design that carried over from the other tiles. With their discarded clothes and blankets covering up the rest of the pattern, Sorey was left with what he remembered glancing at before he had been distracted by Mikleo.

It was something that happened often, moments when he would be struck that he wasn’t dreaming. He was awake and Mikleo was _there_. Considering some of the looks that Mikleo had given him, the sudden thought was mutual.

Sorey paused to kiss Mikleo’s shoulder before lowering himself back down to their makeshift bed. “That would make more sense with the rest of the structure.”

“Discounting the entrance. That was post-Age of Chaos.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

The only sign that his words unsettled Mikleo was the way that the seraph squeezed his hand. Sorey squeezed back as he settled back into place. The feeling of his body seemed to calm Mikleo, the seraph leaning back into him.

Sorey carefully adjusted their arms over Mikleo’s stomach, going back to his contemplation of the skin on Mikleo’s shoulder. “If there’s evidence that this place has been used multiple times, maybe there are older rooms further back. Do you know what they used it for back after the Age of Chaos?”

“It was a shrine…to the spirit of Shepherd.”

Sorey nosed along the edge of Mikleo’s shoulder blade. “Me?”

“Not specifically. More of the Shepherd in general, but it fell out of use when more people could see the seraphim.”

Sorey hummed, not bothering to raise his face from Mikleo’s skin. “There’s evidence that seraphs were represented as birds during the earlier times. I haven’t found anything about why though. Maybe not many people could see them. But it would make sense that the representation carried over.”

“I think some of the older pieces were moved up to the front, something about souls flying towards the light or something like that.” Mikleo shifted in his arms, Sorey sure that he was more uncomfortable with the subject than their position.

He hugged Mikleo close, rubbing his thumb along Mikleo’s. “I’m here.”

Mikleo took a deep breath, Sorey feeling him relax again. “Yes. You are.”

It would be an ideal time to nudge Mikleo back into motion and continue through the ruin. But they had centuries for that, and Mikleo felt good in his arms. Besides, they had tried distracting himself with that tactic before to various degrees of success. Maybe it was time to just stay.

Sorey smiled when Mikleo raised their joined hands to kiss them. Sorey returned the favor with a press of his lips to the back of Mikleo’s neck. He didn’t bother to move from there, holding the position as Mikleo held his. Their joined hands were held almost reverently to Mikleo’s lips, strangely suitable for a building that was once a place to pray to the Shepherds. It was just as fitting that Sorey had treated Mikleo’s body with the same reverence, because the building would have probably been used to worship the seraphim at one point.

Of course, proving the theory was a different matter, but Sorey was content to wait. After all, the two of them had centuries to figure it all out.


	4. Watch the Ripples Change Their Size

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Daemon AU written before I knew that the hellions from Berseria were called daemons. Title taken from Changes by David Bowie. Written for the prompt "Changes"

Gramps had told him that the human world was different and Mikleo had always taken the oft repeated advice in stride. Of course it was different from their life in Elysia. It was different like the ruins that he, Sorey and Aino had explored. It was a known fact, which meant that he had never spent too much time thinking about it. Now that they were away from Elysia, it was a problem.

Mikleo watched the people of the small town practically swarm Sorey and Rose. Their daemons were just as eager. Daemons of all shapes and sizes were bounding up to Aino. They kept a safe distance from her, but it was clear that they wanted to get closer. Mikleo wondered if there were stories about the daemons of the Shepherds that he and Sorey had never heard of, but he was sure that Alisha would have told them. Besides, she and Kyösti had looked at Sorey and Aino with the same kind of awe on their faces.

Aino met the attention just as well as Sorey, her response of a lolling tongue and a wag of her tail the equivalent to Sorey’s smile. It was only because he knew the two of them so well that he could see the tension that the two of them carried. There was a slight rise to Aino’s fur, hardly noticeable considering the length of her coat, but Mikleo knew to watch out for it. The sight of it made him want to do nothing more than to reach out and smooth his fingers over the fur. But he wasn’t allowed that anymore.

It was a taboo where there had never been one. Back in Elysia, he had been free to touch Aino as much as he wanted. She would bound into his arms just as easily as she would snuggle into Sorey’s. Her favorite place had been between the two of them, pressed against their legs. It had never seemed like a bad thing, just something natural and right, even when Gramps had explained to him when Aino really was.

A daemon was the outward part of the human soul, it was the part of them that they wore outside their bodies. They were a reflection of their human, special and something to be protected. Aino was precious to Sorey like his true name was precious to him, which was why he had told it to the two of them as soon as it had been gifted to him. It was only fair considering how much they shared already. Sorey let him touch his _soul_ , it was only fair that Mikleo gave him something just as valuable.

He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the sound of the villagers talking. His fingers twitched by his sides as he tried to remember the last time he’d had touched Aino. 

It had been a while ago, certainly not since Glaivend Basin when he had been grabbing onto her and Sorey in a desperate attempt to get them to see and hear him again. He had wanted to when they had woken up. He had wanted to hold the two of them close to make sure that something like that never happened again.

The problem was that Aino reacted every time. She would lean into him, turn her face into his hand, anything to acknowledge his presence because it was too ingrained into her not to. Sorey would react too. He would lean towards Mikleo and, often, reach out to return the touch.

The people of the town wouldn’t understand and Mikleo was sure that they would be horrified. It was a taboo and Mikleo had never seen any of the other seraphs do it. They would talk to Aino and Tapio without a problem, but they would never cross the boundary that was clearly defined for them. It wasn’t so clear to him, which meant it was better to just abstain until the three of them could get a moment alone. When that moment came, he wouldn’t hesitate in burying his fingers into Aino’s fur and feel what had become so familiar through armatization. It was never as strong as when Sorey called on him, but it was very close.

Mikleo opened his eyes as something jabbed into his side. He turned to glare at Edna, the earth seraph just smiling back at him as she dropped her umbrella back to her shoulder. “Jealousy doesn’t suit you.”

“I’m not jealous!”

Edna shook her head. “Try again.”

“I’m not. I’m just tired.”

“Uh huh.” Edna tipped her head, Mikleo sure that he had lost the argument.

It didn’t matter that he was right, because he wasn’t jealous. He was just off kilter.

Armatization was one thing but that was something to be saved for emergencies, especially with how it wore on Sorey. His friend might never admit it, but Mikleo felt it. It was impossible to hide anything when the two of them were so close. Being able to interact with Aino was a close second, something to fill the gap that Mikleo felt like was yawning between them. It wasn’t a gap made by the humans that Sorey had met or the burden that he had taken on. It was a gap made by the rules of the human world.

He swallowed and walked away from Edna, not wanting to risk her umbrella against his ribs again. Mikleo was careful to skirt around the edges of the crowd, slipping through the gaps towards the center.

Tapio was the first to notice him, the raven bobbing slightly on Rose’s shoulder before he ducked back down, trying to make himself unnoticed. The attention wasn’t welcome to him, which was surprising considering that Mikleo had seen Tapio bouncing up and down the side of the Sparrowfeathers’ wagon, shouting their wares at the top of his lungs.

Just beyond them was Sorey and Aino, Sorey stumbling through something that was half explanation of what was happening around the village and half a reassurance that it would be taken care of. Sorey would probably have to repeat it a few times before they could even move towards the inn and even that would only be after the people gave him their prayers to repeat to the seraphs. It was the same in every town, although this one seemed to have a higher number of people who still believed in the seraphim.

He slid into his usual place by Sorey’s side, bracketing Aino between them. The dog turned her head slightly, the wider swing of her tail the only sign that she had seen him. Mikleo wasn’t sure if it was a habit from all their other stops in towns and villages or just purely accidental that Aino started giving some of the other dog daemons steady enough glares that they backed off.

Mikleo lowered his hand, stopping just short of touching her head. He couldn’t bury his fingers into her scruff as a warning, but the motion worked just as well.

They weren’t really dogs, even if Mikleo did lean a little closer to Sorey. For one, they didn’t seem to notice that he was there. Their eyes might have been far more intelligent than normal dogs, but they looked right through him. For another, he could see a sparkling of gold that rested over the daemon and their human if he looked hard at them. That difference was usually enough.

As for Aino, she was as much a part of Sorey as his true name was a part of him. There was nothing to be afraid of there, not when she had spent days avoiding him after she had settled, because she had known. Not when she had scared off any dogs they ran across. Not when nothing felt more right than the feel of his fingers in her fur and Sorey’s hand on his shoulder.

He looked down at where his hand hovered over her head, carefully closing his hand into a fist. He could be patient, he could wait.

Beside him Sorey laughed, swaying a little bit into him. Behind the cover of Aino’s head, Sorey twined their pinkies together, holding him there as Aino tipped her head to the side. Aino looked at him with a wide smile and an eager wag of her tail before turning her attention back to the people.

Mikleo closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath even as he moved his leg so that Aino’s fur would brush against his pants. It wasn’t the same as being able to hold Aino between them or really touch Sorey. But, for the moment, it was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Aino - Belgian Tervuren](http://siggysparadise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/belgian-tervuren-3.jpg)   
>  [Kyösti - Arabian Leopard](http://i.imgur.com/pZnFUcC.jpg)   
>  [Tapio - Fan-tailed Raven](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9rRhAufM8H0/UTXPQjmj5_I/AAAAAAAAB04/FJKDlRP9eJM/s1600/Corvus_rhipidurus_121129_Labilela_IMG_0323_w.jpg)


	5. It Takes a Village

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "Absence". Takes place post-canon, so spoilers for the end of the game.

Mikleo had come back to Elysia a few weeks after the light had appeared in the sky. Everyone had immediately clustered around him to congratulate him on defeating the Lord of Calamity, because they had been able to feel how something in the world had eased, even if it was by that little bit.

They had been aware of how ragged he had looked, like he was barely keeping his physical form together. They had been aware that he was clutching an ornate bow like it was the only thing keeping him upright.

More than anything, they were aware of the telling absence of another person by his side. But none of them had wanted to talk about it. Obviously something had been done, but there was a looming fear that it had taken far more than any of them had really wanted to give up.

Mikleo and Sorey had always been inseparable and to see one knowing that the other wasn’t nearby was strange. It was an end that all of them had been prepared for, but that had been years in the future. Suddenly they had to deal with a world without _their_ Sorey at the same time as Mikleo.

So they had guided him to the home that he and Sorey had once shared and made sure that he had wanted for nothing. They had offered support and love, things that they had lavished on him since he had been a child. They didn’t speak about what had happened, not unless Mikelo broached the subject first and, even then the story came to them piecemeal.

Sorey wasn’t dead, he just wasn’t there anymore. He was purifying the land, sacrificing himself at a chance for a dream.

All of it mattered, but nothing more than what Mikleo didn’t say. The empty space at his side said that much more.

So they kept close, offered a shoulder to cry on when things became too much. And they waved him off when, months later, another Shepherd and Lailah had come to ask him back.

Kyme had reassured him that he would hold the blessing. Lawrence promised that he would keep the house in good repair. Cynthia had passed him a pack of more things than he had needed. And Natalie had been the one to pass him the bow.

And Mikleo had walked away from Elysia again, his right side achingly empty.

* * *

Two days later they had gathered together a delegation that became more like a village-wide pilgrimage. Only Taccio and Kyme had stayed behind, the former because he didn’t think that he would be able to make it through the strong seals and Kyme to keep the blessing around the village. As a group they made the trek through the Mabinogio Ruins to Camlann. They hadn’t been able to go too far, but far enough to prop up one of the small shrines and set up the best seal they could.

They had done their best to protect Mikleo as he went out again to continue his destiny, and now they had taken care of their Sorey.

* * *

The pilgrimage became a yearly affair, a renewing of their seals around Artorius' Throne. The roster shifted every year depending on who had the task of keeping the blessing up. As the years went on, humans who had come to live in Elysia came too, although they never went past the initial shrine. They would leave their offerings and remembrances there while the seraphim of Elysia would brave the dangerous terrain between Camlann and Artorius' Throne to renew their seals.

They ran into Mikleo there once and his surprise had been evident, but he had folded into their group without a sound. They had stayed longer that year, lingering with Mikleo before letting him go with good cheer and carefully extracted promises to visit more often.

Elysia missed Mikleo just as much as they missed Sorey.

* * *

Natalie wasn’t the first one to notice when Sorey’s light went out, that dubious honor went to Loana and Myrna. The two of them had been out with the youngest seraphs and humans, tending to the thatch on some of the human’s houses. But, while she might not have seen the great pillar of light flicker and finally die, she had felt it.

She and all the other seraphim in Elysia had dropped what they were doing and turned to stare up at the sky in horror. The light had been there for seven hundred years. There had been humans that had been born and died under its steady light. New seraphim had grown under it, and now there was nothing.

Natalie had braced herself for a flood of malevolence or for something equally as horrible to happen but, as the minutes ticked by, nothing had. For those strange moments after Sorey’s light had faded, Elysia sat on the brink of panic.

Thankfully Kyme stepped up to push them into motion. Teams of humans and seraphim had been sent down to Ladylake to check with Lord Uno and the Shepherds that were sure to be there to discuss the phenomenon and another team had followed Taccio through the seal to Camlann and then on to where the multitude of seals were kept around Artorius’ Throne. The ones who had stayed behind checked on the blessing of their own land. Natalie had noticed that Kyme didn’t say anything about the fact that the blessing was tied in with Mikleo’s protection spell, because it would probably worry everyone that much more.

She also noticed that Kyme had gone into Mikleo’s house to look over his notes in a desperate search to figure out where he had gone. When Kyme hadn’t found any concrete evidence, he had shaken his head. Natalie had sighed and kept moving to keep Elysia out of a panic. The activity had been enough to keep her own emotions from jolting between joy, because the disappearance of the light could only mean good things, to horror, because it was equally as likely that things had gone wrong.

Most of all, she found herself hoping beyond all hopes that Mikleo hadn’t noticed.

* * *

In the end it had been needless to worry, although the entire village did. Natalie was sure that everyone tried their best to make it look like nothing happened in Elysia in the hopes that it would be enough if the worst happened.

The worst didn’t happen, because Mikleo returned, albeit months later. But that didn’t matter, because his right side wasn’t empty any longer.

Sorey was back.

His hair was a little longer and he obviously wasn’t human anymore, but those were things that could be waved away. Their Sorey was home.

It was Ed that noticed it first, the earth seraph rushing forward and swooping Sorey up off the ground with a whoop. Mikleo started at the move and Sorey seemed shocked, but they both relaxed as Ed spun Sorey around. “Our boy’s an earth seraph!”

That had been the thing to break all of their caution, the entire village rushing forward to throw their arms around Mikleo and Sorey, the latter as soon as Ed put him down. Sorey and Mikleo stood patiently through it all, Sorey with his usual smile and laugh and Mikleo with a lightness that no one in Elysia had seen from him for a long while.

Somewhere in the midst of the welcome rush, Sorey slung his arm around Mikleo’s waist and drew him close. Not an eye in the village missed the familiar move, nor did they miss the way that Mikleo leaned closer to Sorey.

That more than the light disappearing or Mikleo’s return meant the world to Elysia. It meant that their boys were happy and whole.


	6. I Turned Myself to Face Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More of the daemon AU. Title take from Changes by David Bowie. Written for the prompt "Identity."

Sorey had never realized how deep the ruins went. Every other time they had explored the half buried series of buildings just on the edge of the forest it hadn’t seem like too much of an effort. Even their goal for the day wasn’t that deep into the ruins. The fresco they were looking for was in the second house, which was easy enough to get via a safe route through the roof of the fourth building and a walk through the third one to get to the mostly sunken second house. It was a trip that they had taken multiple times, but this time they had finally figured out a safe way to counteract the spring that was causing the houses to sink in the first place. Now they could actually look at the frescos in the second house and get a good copy of them before the house sunk below even what Mikleo could prevent.

But even the lure of the frescos couldn’t distract him from the horrible ache that started somewhere in the center of his chest. Sorey wanted to rub at it, but it wouldn’t help and, even worse Mikleo would notice. Mikleo had already asked about Aino, which had left Sorey stuttering some kind of excuse about her wanting to go on ahead. Except that wasn’t the truth. His daemon was skulking somewhere outside the ruins, where the ground was safe. She could move freely through the buildings above or where the ground wouldn’t give under her paws and they had both thought that it would be close enough. Neither of them had really thought about what would happen if Sorey was traveling down.

His foot slipped on the stairs, Sorey quick to reach out and grab for the wall. He braced himself against it, panting for breath as he recovered from his startle.

Ahead of him, Mikleo stopped, his gaze dropping from the carvings along the top of the wall to look back at him. Mikleo frowned before climbing the steps back up at him. “Watch where you’re going.”

“I know. I was just distracted.”

Mikleo glanced around, his gaze lingering on the carvings at the top of the wall. From the look on his friend’s face, Mikleo didn’t completely buy it. The carvings had been the one thing they had managed to study while they had worked out the problem of the building.

Sorey flashed Mikleo a smile, trying to ignore the stretched bond between him and Aino. They weren’t far from their goal. As long as they stopped moving, he would be fine. Aino would find a place where she could be close enough that it wouldn’t hurt and then he could go back up to her. Of course, he would have to wait to meet up with Aino until Mikleo was safely away, but it would be worth the wait if he could keep exploring with Mikleo. His only regret was that Aino would miss out on something she loved so much, but it had been something that they had both agreed on.

He flexed his fingers, trying to ignore the itch to bury his fingers into Aino’s fur. He would get back to her soon enough, and then the two of them could talk about what Sorey had seen.

“Sorey?”

He jerked his head up at Mikleo’s question, surprised to find that Mikleo had moved closer. Sorey leaned back, bracing himself against the wall to get further away from Mikleo. “I’m fine. Come on, before it starts to sink again.”

“It’s not going to sink.” Mikleo huffed like he’d been insulted. He crossed his arms over his chest, taking a step back to lean against the opposite wall. He remained silent for a moment before tipping his head to the side. “Where’s Aino?”

“She’ll catch up.”

“Catch up? I thought you said she went on ahead.”

“I…I did, but she’ll be right back.”

Mikleo narrowed his eyes before pushing away from the wall and storming past him. Sorey watched as Mikleo hurried down the stairs, only able to shake himself out of the shock by the time that Mikleo had already made it to the bottom. He could hear the seraph moving around, too much to be looking at the frescos, which meant that he was looking for someone.

Sorey pushed away from the wall, hurrying down the stairs. “Mikleo!”

“Where is she?” Mikleo stepped into the stairwell, Sorey surprised by the panic on Mikleo’s face. “Did she find a passage that we didn’t know about? Is she stuck? Where is she?!”

Sorey shook his head as an answer to all of Mikleo’s questions, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak. Instead, he just pointed back up the stairs, watching as Mikleo took the information in.

He expected more questions, not for Mikleo to nod and start back up the stairs at him. “Hey…”

Mikleo didn’t pause as he walked by. He did reach out and grab Sorey’s arm, towing him along even when Sorey yelped in protest. The sound didn’t seem to deter Mikleo as he pulled Sorey along after him, not even turning around when Sorey tried to pry his fingers loose.

“Mikleo, I thought we were going to check out the frescos.”

“Later.”

“We might not have the time later.”

“ _Later_.”

Sorey snapped his mouth shut at Mikleo’s tone of voice. It was rare that it was used on him, which meant that he was in more trouble than he had expected. In those rare cases, it was better to just be quiet and see what he could do to push Mikleo’s bad mood away.

He trailed after Mikleo through the ruins, bemused by the fact that Mikleo was still holding onto his wrist. He had stopped trying to pull away, so Mikleo should have let him go. They would have been able to travel faster. Still, Sorey was sure that telling Mikleo that would only lead to more glaring. He felt bad enough about making Mikleo worry and leaving Aino so far away from him that he didn’t dare.

Stepping outside was like taking a deep breath of air, the knot of pain and worry that had settled in his chest disappearing. Sorey automatically turned towards where Aino would be, it was a natural reaction. His daemon didn’t come out of the bushes and tall grass, something that he was glad for. He hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to Mikleo about what had happened. They hadn’t even come up with something to tell Mikleo.

Sorey looked back at his friend as Mikleo dropped his wrist, looking at the ground instead of Mikleo. It didn’t help him, he could still feel Mikleo’s glare on the top of his head.

“Where is she?”

“Around.”

“Sorey-”

“Let me explain, please.” He looked up at Mikleo, glad that his friend at least looked surprised. He could stumble through an explanation before Aino came out of the bushes out of guilt. It wouldn’t be as good as anything that he and Aino had come up with each other, but it would be something.

Sorey rubbed the back of his head, trying to come up with something like the grand speeches that he and Aino had started to plan before giving up. It was better to just explain. “I think Aino has stopped changing.”

“She settled?”

Sorey nodded, turning the slightly strange word over in his head. It wasn’t one he heard around Elysia much, save for the few books that Gramps had given him. 

Daemons settled when their humans reached a certain age, it was a normal thing, save for he was the only human in Elysia and it seemed strange when Aino had spent all of their life flickering into any shape that she had wanted. But settled was the right thing for it, because that’s what it had felt like when she had changed into that shape.

He glanced up at Mikleo, watching as his friend paced a short track, obviously thinking over the information. Mikleo had read the same books that he had and probably more times than he had. It had to be easier with a daemon because then it became about naming feelings that were already there instead of making them up.

Mikleo stopped his pacing, Sorey feeling horrible at the interest in his eyes. They had always talked about what would happen when Aino settled, the three of them throwing around ideas until they had fallen asleep. Sorey couldn’t imagine them doing that anymore.

He looked away as Mikleo stepped forward. “When did this happen? Can I see her?”

It was easier to answer the first question.  “Remember when we startled the goats?”

“Yes. You got kicked and she chased them off.”

“I think it was then, or really close to that.”

He glanced up in time to see Mikleo frown. “She was a dog then. So she stayed a dog?”

“Yes.” The word was more a squeak, Sorey afraid of what Mikleo would say.

He expected Mikleo to turn and walk back up to the village or ask if there was a way to change what had happened. What he didn’t expect was for Mikleo to sit on the ground facing the bushes. “Aino?”

There was a rustle from the bushes, Sorey seeing Aino’s muzzle peek out briefly before she pulled herself back into the bushes. “I’m here.”

“No you’re not. Come over here.”

“No.” The bushes shook. “I don’t want to scare you.”

Mikleo paused at that, looking between Sorey and the bushes before he laughed. That was almost as surprising as Mikleo sitting down to talk to Aino.

His friend was quick to press a hand over his mouth, smothering the sound. But the amusement was still in his eyes when he looked back at Sorey. He lowered his hand, using it to pat the ground beside him.

Sorey took up the invitation, crossing his legs as he sat down on the ground. Mikleo rested his hand on Sorey’s knee, his other one outstretched towards the bushes. “Aino.”

The bushes quivered again, Sorey sighing and patting his lap. “Aino, please.”

His daemon slunk out of the bushes, her head low and tail tucked between her legs. Even if he hadn’t been connected to her, he would have felt her misery.

He felt Mikleo twitch beside him, not sure if the seraph was shocked or if he wanted to run away. It was hard to tell, especially considering that Mikleo would probably sit at his side just to prove that he could. Sorey watched Mikleo out of the corner of his eye, waiting for the moment that Mikleo would decide it was too much and get up.

To his surprise, Mikleo just leaned forward, the open hand he was offering to Aino proving to be too much of a temptation. The daemon crossed the distance between them, pressing her face into Mikleo’s hand. Sorey shivered at the touch, feeling something that had been knotted in him relax as Aino did.

Aino muttered something softly, nuzzling into Mikleo’s hand. Sorey thought he heard the word sorry, but he doubted that Mikleo heard that, not when he was staring at Aino with the same wonder that Sorey had seen directed towards ruins.

Mikleo reached up with both hands, digging his fingers into Aino’s fur as she came closer. Sorey felt the ghost of Mikleo’s touch along the side of his face and down the sides of his neck. It tingled slightly as always, but there was something different about it now, a different kind of electricity that was pleasant.

Sorey sighed and leaned to the side until his head rested on Mikleo’s shoulder. He felt more than heard Mikelo’s surprised huff, but he was just glad that Mikleo hadn’t stopped carding his fingers through Aino’s fur.

The silence settled comfortably between them, Sorey lulled by the proximity of his daemon and the feeling of Mikleo petting her. From the waves of contentment he could feel from Aino, she felt the same way.

He had almost fallen asleep when Mikleo spoke. “So that’s why the two of you have been avoiding me.”

Sorey nodded, too comfortable to raise his head from Mikleo’s shoulder. “We didn’t want to frighten you.”

Mikleo huffed, pulling one hand away from Aino to flick Sorey’s knee. “Like you could.”

Aino whined, practically crawling into their laps to get after Mikleo’s hand again. Sorey grunted as her weight settled across his lap, but Mikleo accepted it with more grace. He dropped his hands into her scruff, Sorey rolling his shoulders up in a mirror to the motion that Aino made.

Mikelo smoothed out Aino’s fur, finally just resting his hands on her back. The lack of movement was enough to get Sorey to lift his head away from Mikleo’s shoulder, watching as the seraph stared at his daemon.

After a long moment of contemplation, Mikleo looked back at him. “She’s still Aino, which means she’s still you, right?” When Sorey didn’t answer right away, Mikleo patted Aino’s shoulders. “Everyone says that daemons like a mirror of their humans, so she can’t be anything other than you. So there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Sorey offered him a shaky smile, laughing when Mikleo reached up to shove his shoulder. It wasn’t enough to get him to fall over, but Sorey rocked with the motion anyway. He knocked back into Mikleo, not surprised when the seraph didn’t move. He shifted so they shoulders pressed together, lowering his hands so he could rest them in Aino’s fur.

Sorey closed his eyes. It felt good to be so close to Aino after the two of them had kept separate for Mikleo’s sake. And, now that they had gotten the chance to talk to Mikleo, all of their worrying seemed stupid. He sighed and tipped his head over further, just enough to rest it on Mikleo’s shoulder. He thought he heard Mikleo huff, but the sound was fond. Sorey wasn’t going to push him about it, not when it felt so good to have his daemon close and Mikleo’s hands in her fur.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Aino - Belgian Tervuren](http://siggysparadise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/belgian-tervuren-3.jpg)


End file.
